Concerns over staff burnout — and possible solutions — were discussed at a Talent City Council study session June 13. Recovery from the September 2020 Almeda Fire and the pandemic have increased workloads for the staff and city manager.

Talent’s mayor and city councilors had expressed concern about City Manager Jordan Rooklyn’s potential for burnout earlier and requested proposals to help alleviate the workload.

“We are having this conversation because we value what you bring to Talent,” Mayor Darby Ayers-Flood told Rooklyn.

During the past two years, the city issued four times the number of building permits than it did prior to the fire, and water service requests were up 10 times, Rooklyn reported. The city has also been managing more than $4 million in grant funding.

“Exhaustion and high workloads have placed me and my staff at worry of burning out,” said Rooklyn.

Rooklyn became city manager in August 2021. She had previously worked for the Portland Water Bureau as a policy analyst. She was also named executive director of the Talent Urban Renewal Agency on June 21, 2022.

Talent is currently funded like a city about three to four times its size due to the emergencies, said Rooklyn. Two-thirds of the management team, including Rooklyn, have come on since the fire.

“We are working really hard without a lot of background to help me to meet needs and help with the departments,” said Rooklyn. Most department heads are now working 40 to 45 hours per week, but when she first arrived, they were working considerably more.

The city will also be facing readjustments over the next several years as responses to the emergency aftermaths decline.

While residential permit processing is in decline, upcoming projects will likely result in more complex building and planning issues, said Rooklyn. That could include rebuilding commercial structures lost in the fire.

Maintenance is another issue that has been forced to the background the past couple years, but it will need to be addressed in the upcoming years, said Rooklyn. The city will also need to reassess its finances and create a long-term financial plan as aid for the disasters declines.

A proposal presented by Rooklyn listed several approaches to dealing with the burnout issue.

One approach would be to hire an executive assistant in a half- to three-quarter-time capacity. Among the assistant’s tasks would be responding to emails and voicemails, follow up on contracts, and document preparation. The position would allow the manager to focus on higher-level policy issues. Cost was estimated at $30,000 to $55,000 per year.

Another solution would be to add a deputy city manager position and reduce the current city manager to part time. A deputy manager could take on day-to-day operations the current manager oversees. The manager’s workload would be cut by about 25 hours per week, and personnel costs would increase from $70,000 to $85,000 annually.

Two other suggestions relate to the Talent Urban Renewal Agency. One would be to sunset the agency, while the other would be to hire a part-time agency executive director.

An attempt to form a new urban renewal district was rejected by voters in the May 16 special election, but the current district still operates and has funding for several projects, although it no longer receives tax revenues.

During much of Rooklyn’s time as the agency director, she oversaw efforts on the proposal to create the new district, which voters rejected.

The agency is still pursuing a proposal to transform its 4.3-acre Gateway site into a combination residential/commercial development. The site hosts 55 trailers to provide transitional housing for Almeda Fire victims, with ACCESS leasing the property and trailers, and providing site management.

Under the sun-setting proposal, agency property would be transferred to the city, which would take over the Gateway housing program and Gateway site development.

Council members voiced support for hiring an executive assistant for Rooklyn in the near future.

“I would be comfortable with moving ahead on an executive assistant sooner rather than later. The other decisions are bigger decisions,” said Councilor Eleanor Ponomareff. “That is the least big commitment at this time.”

Councilors Ana Byers and David Pastizzo agreed with Ponomareff. Ayers-Flood said she saw a lot of value in what the councilors were saying.

“It seems like that is the quickest bite at the apple and gives us more data for what is going forward,” said Pastizzo. Byers urged moving on a hire in the near future.

Ayers-Flood noted that other ideas to address the burnout issue and future city management could be developed in addition to Rooklyn’s proposals.

Caryn Wheeler Clay, executive director of the Jackson County Community Long-term Recovery Group, was the only person to comment during public input. Clay said she faced burnout in her position, which deals with fire recovery. But her board of directors was receptive to her request for a time break from the job.

“It’s a good opportunity to slow down for careful consideration,” said Clay. “Jordan’s leadership can see this community through a lot.”